Reno Plans Not to Investigate Clinton Campaign Donations

By Roberto SuroThe Washington PostWashington

Attorney General Janet Reno announced Monday that she has decided not to
seek an independent counsel to investigate whether President Clinton
misused Democratic Party funds to pay for a massive television advertising
blitz during his 1996 re-election campaign.

After a 90-day preliminary investigation, Reno reported to the special
court that oversees the independent counsel process that "there are no
reasonable grounds to believe that further investigation is warranted."

The attorney general's action renders it unlikely that Clinton will ever
face a criminal inquiry into an allegation that has dogged him since the
closing days of the 1996 campaign and that was revived when Justice
Department investigators subpoenaed a Federal Election Commission audit
last September.

The audit, which prompted Reno's inquiry, alleged that Clinton dodged
federal campaign spending limits by using Democratic Party funds to pay for
an unprecedented $46 million advertising effort. The so-called issue
advertisements would have been legal if they had only advocated the party's
views but, the auditors said, they contained an "electioneering message"
that explicitly promoted Clinton's re-election.

The FEC is still considering the audit's assessment of the ads and a
recommendation that the Clinton campaign repay $7 million of the federal
funds it received after agreeing to abide by spending limits. The audit
found similar violations by former Sen. Robert J. Dole's 1996 presidential
campaign and recommended a $17.7 million repayment, which is also under
consideration by the commission.

Reno emphasized that she had drawn "no conclusions as to whether the
(Democratic National Committee) media campaign complied with the election
laws, or whether permitting this type of political advertising, paid for in
this fashion, is good or bad policy." That, she said, "is a matter properly
within the jurisdiction of the FEC and, ultimately, Congress, rather than
for a grand jury."